101 Ways to Say I Love You
by InTheShadowOfTheStorm
Summary: 101 drabbles for all ships, except for kataang i just can't do it. Request a ship and I'll write one for it!
1. No Hesitation

"I'm sorry Aang. I can't keep lying to you, and to myself"

"Its ok Katara. I understand." I say.

And with that she walks away. Out of my life and out of our camp.

I do not understand. I want to yell, and scream, and make you see how much this is hurting me. Why can't I make you happy? I have given you everything: my heart, my soul, my time, and my love, but it isn't enough. It never has been enough for you.

"Katara" I whisper.

She turns back. The setting sun softly illuminating her outline

"Yes Aang" she says softly looking down as if ashamed.

"Its not enough is it?" I whisper wanting all the hopeless anger to reach her.

"What?" she asks not comprehending, but sensing the hurt in his voice.

"It's not enough for me to love you. It's not enough for one person to be happy. I want you to be happy Katara. I want you to smile. I want you to smile like you do with Zuko."

It feels good to just let everything out. To give up on this illusion of her I've been trying to force upon her. I realise I do understand. She is breaking my heart by leaving, but I would be breaking her's by keeping her with me.

"Aang I- I want you to know that you will always be my friend" she says awkwardly.

"Always" he replied sorely hoping they could ever get back to that pure platonic love he once had for her.

_**Later that day**_

"Hey Twinkles. I heard what happened." Toph said bending a boulder up to sit on.

"You know I'll . . . I'll always be here to talk, you know if you . . . um want to" she said obviously feeling awkward.

"You know what I hate most about this Toph? It is such a damn cliché! Boy likes girl, girl stays with boy because of pity, then comes the "Let's just be friends" speech, and then someone always says "I'll be there if you need to talk"" I burst out suddenly.

I want to tell someone what I feel without them flinching away, I want someone who can take my emotions without feeling the need to coddle me

With that the avatar started sobbing heart wrenching sobs that can only come from the first break of a heart, and the Blind Bandit, without any thought to how girly she might look, held the mighty avatar as he sobbed. He didn't have to only have one side of his emotions around Toph. She was the rock that could always weather the storm. With Katara it felt as if everything was scripted. Everything was always done after hesitation. In that moment he realized his second revelation of the day. He liked being with someone who didn't hesitate. He liked having someone who truly liked him in the way he needed, and with Toph's arms around him his heart began to mend. Katara had still hurt him, but maybe he could let someone else in.

**A/N Sorry to anyone who really liked this chapter, but I looked at it again and realized that it really sucks. So I fixed it (hopefully). Tell me if you like it. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**


	2. You still got me

"Come on Katara water fights are for little kids" Aang said pleadingly

"Well if you really don't want to play then you don't have to" Katara said batting her eye lashes at the clearly smittin 8 year old. It was truly unfair of her seeing as she is a good five years more developed than anyone in his grade.

"Well alright" he sighed "Can I be on your team?" he asked hopefully

"No way Twinkles" Toph said shaking her head "I need her Blue Spirit Blaster for my battle stratagy"

"You're starting to sound like Sokka, Toph" Suki called from the sidelines. She had broken her ankle earlier this month in a soccer game against Azula's team.

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing" Sokka said indignantly from beside her. They had been going out for awhile.

"Are we ever going to start" Zuko said standing next to his exspensive water catapult which he had gotten for his birthday.

"Sure lets pick teams" Katara said taking charge "Me and Zuko are captains, and Toph is on my team"

They took up positions around Katara's house. Toph and Katara armed themselves with super soakers, and Aang and Zuko set up the catapult and water ballons around the club house which they called the war council room. The girls snuck around to the kitchen window.

"Psst! Mom!"

"What is it Katara" Kya said

"Can you please fill up our guns with ice water?"

"Didn't I hear Zuko say that he doesn't like cold water"

"He was just talking about…bout water in winter"

"Alright Katara, but promise that you'll not shoot anyone that does not want to be shot"

"Kay mom can you just fill it up. Please!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going"

The girls got there super soakers filled with frigid water, but little did they know that the boys had a plan up there sleeves. As they were giggleing outside the kitchen window the bays were sneaking over to Aang's house.

"Come on Aang. Gyasto might be back soon!"

"I don't know Zuko. I mean Gyasto said I could give some of his pies to my friends, but I don't think that he would want me to throw them at my friends."

"Aang I bet you ten bucks Katara is cheating right now. So why shouldn't we."

"Alright I guess so" Aang mumbled. Usually Zuko would never cheat. It was unhonourable. He mentioned his honour so much that when ever he said the word honour he would get hit with Katara's blue ruler that she lovingly dubbed The Water Whip.

_He must really want to win_ thought Aang.

They snuck in and stole a couple pies that Gyatso had set aside for Aang's friends. Then they made they're way back to the war concil room to set up the catapult. Back at Katara's house the girls had been lying in wait to ambush Zuko and Aang, but when the girlssaw them carrying pies they got intersted.

"What are they doing with pies? Are they having a picnic?" Toph asked increduously

" I don't know… Hey wait are they putting them on Zuko's catapult! Those cheaters! This was supposed to be a fair match! This is an outra-"

"Didn't we use ice water?" Toph said interuppting Katara's tirade.

" Yes, well its still only water wasn't it." Katara said pleadingly.

" Whatever lets get them and their pies before they load their catapult."

As the girls crept silently towards the club house the boys began loading their catapult.

" Ha! They'll never know what hit them!" Zuko said patting himself on the back for such a wonderful plan that was just about ot be foiled.

Just then Zuko jumped up in shock as a blast of ice cold water hit him square in the back and trickled down his spine.

"OOOOoooowwwwwwwwwwwwooooooo" Zuko shrieked "Hey we agreed on no ice water."

"So you're saying that we can't use ice water, but pies are fine" Toph countered

"Yes" Zuko said flinging a pie at Katara "That's exactly what I'm saying"

"You are so dead" Katara said menacingly while cocking her gun.

"Oh crap" Zuko said before fleeing across the yard.

"COME BACK YOU COWARD" Katara roared running after him with bits of pie covering her whole body.

Toph and Aang just watched as the two screamed at eachother for cheating while running down the street. As Zuko's ice water induced squealing faded Toph and Aang siged.

"Why does every water fight end like this."

"Bet you ten bucks they'll end up making out" Toph said matter of factly.

"What!?!"

"You must notice the way they stare at eachother."

"Oh" Aang looked like he had just found out that Santa Claus wasn't real.

"Well you still got me" Toph said trying to cheer him up.

"Guess I do" Aang said smiling at her.


	3. You scared me

It was another boring, hot, dry, summer day, and Zuko was bored out of his mind. He had no interest in video games when his room was one hundred degrees. The chores were done, and he was sick of lying around. So his solution was to lie half naked on the concrete floor of his basement/TV room. Just as he was about to start a Blue Spirit marathon, his favorite show, a loud banging came from the door upstairs.

"Finally, somethings happening" Zuko whispered to himself as he got up from the floor. As he was walking up the stairs the banging on the door came again.

"Zuko? Are you in there? Come to the door!" the unmistakable voice of his neighbor Katara yelled over the knocking of her fist.

"What is it?" he asked opening the door.

Katara stood on the other side. She had her hair in a hundred braids all pulled back in a ponytail. For a top she had a blue bikini and for bottoms she had denim shorts. Zuko did a double take.

"Sokka was wondering if you wanted to go to the lake with us?" she asked uncomfortably.

They had never been on the best of terms. The day he moved here when he was five he had made friends with Sokka, and they had gotten into a mud fight. Katara who had been wondering what was going on outside had gotten hit with Zuko's mud ball when Sokka ducked. That marked the beginning of a rivalry that had lasted for quite some time. Right now they were in a truce. This was the reason she was uncomfortable, or at least that's what Zuko thought.

The truth was she was trying not to stare at his naked chest.

"Sure" Zuko replied going to grab some swim trunks and a towel.

They all met at the lake. Lake Unagi was about a half mile away from Zuko's house and is the home to the Unagi. Sort of like the Lockness Monster, the Unagi is supposed to be a giant underwater serpent. Sokka used to scare Zuko and Katara out of the water by telling them Unagi stories. Of course by now they had grown out of that, but the lake was still a hangout for many of the neighborhood's kids.

When they got there they found the lake uncharacteristically empty.

"Maybe the Unagi got them" Sokka whispered to Zuko

"Or they could be on vacation" Katara said rolling her eyes and smiling.

"Last one to the Tree is a rotten egg" Sokka shouted after sulking for a moment. They all sprinted to the Tree, Sokka with a slight lead. The Tree was the only tree with branches long enough to jump into the deep parts of the water.

Sokka climbed up the tree with Zuko and Katara right behind him. He ran out the length out the branch and cannonballed out into the lake. Katara having pulled ahead of Zuko ran across the branch turning around at the last minute to stick her tongue out at Zuko and jumped off. Zuko being more cautious than the siblings walked out across the branch, waited for everyone to clear away, and then executed a perfect dive into the lake.

Just as they made it back to shore to go up the tree again Azula and Ty Lee arrived at the lake.

"Hey Guys!" Ty lee shouted waving

"Hey!" Katara shouted back running up to meet them, or should I say Ty Lee. No one was on really good terms with Azula except for Ty lee.

Zuko and Sokka did another run on the tree while the girls laid out towels on the beach.

"You done already?" Sokka said to Katara while walking up to the girls with Zuko.

"I'm just talking with my friends" Katara retorted sitting up on her towel to give Sokka room to sit down.

"Zula can I share with you?" Zuko asked

"Get your own towel Zuzu" Azula said still sunning on her towel making Zuko scowl.

"You can share with me!" Ty lee said a little too eagerly

"Um ok" Zuko said sitting down awkwardly.

The group stayed at the lake for the rest of the day chatting and swimming. The sun started to get lower and lower until it rested on the horizon while the teens sat on the beach.

"Hey guys we should be getting back. It's going to be dark." Katara pointed out

"Before we go" Azula said speaking up "why don't we have a competition?"

"Ok" Sokka said always the competitor

"It's simple, whoever can jump off the highest branch wins" Azula said examining her nails.

"Sounds fun. Katara are you playing?" Sokka asked

"I don't know. I'm kind of tired." Katara said

"Scared Zuko will beat you?"

"You're on" Katara said marching towards the tree

"We'll be sitting out" Azula said still sitting on the beach with Ty lee.

"Suit yourself" Zuko said walking after the others.

Sokka picked a branch three quarters of the way up the tree and jumped off. Zuko not to be out done went two branches higher. Then it was Katara's turn. She went two more branches higher than Zuko.

"Isn't that too high? The branches look thin." Zuko said to Sokka

"Nah she'll be fine . . . I think" Sokka said not so convincingly

Just then they heard a creaking sound. The branch snapped and Katara fell . Zuko watched in horror as she plummeted. Their gazes locked for a moment, and then Katara hit another branch knocking her out. Zuko started to sprint into the lake with Sokka still frozen behind him. Katara hit the water on her back knocking the air out of her. She started to sink. She stopped eight feet down on the bottom of the lake. Zuko sucked in a big mouthful of air and dove down.

The water was murky, filled with algae and silt. Feeling around with his hands on the bottom he found nothing for a few terrifying seconds. Then his hand hit something, her foot. With one arm under her back and one under her knees he lifted her out of the water and swam her to the surface bridal style. When he could stand on the bottom he shook her shoulders gently.

"Come on Katara wake up. You beat me. Gloat, say something!" Zuko said desperately

"Ow . . ." came the faint reply immediately followed by her coughing up water

Smiling faintly and relieved Zuko carried her to the shallows and set her gently on her feet.

"You scared me" Zuko whispered to her

"Thanks" she replied faintly unable to break gazes with him

Their faces were very close Zuko realized. He wanted to kiss her. She looked like she wanted to be kissed. He leaned in a little . . .

"Katara! Are you ok!" Sokka said running over having finally snapped out of it

Zuko backed off while Sokka bear hugged his sister. Katara leaned into Sokka letting him support her wait while he babbled on about how he was worried, but Katara couldn't hear him she just heard Zuko's voice in her head

"_You scared me"_


End file.
